host: and according to history, civil rights was one of those things the filibuster got used for. >> what's interesting about those is while it wasn't a partisan issue, it was a factual issue. dirksen was a great hero of the civil rights revolution right alongside his partner, lyndon johnson. it was the southern democrats, but at the -- that point in time, it was the southern democrats that wanted to talk and one held a record of talking for 24 hours straight. these are filibusters where they don't want to take the floor and they have no interest in debating. it's all to block things. when you get a filibuster when you have bills that pass unanimously, it becomes clear that this was not a matter of principle over a particular bill but a tool of obstruction. host: randy in minnesota, republican line, good morning. go ahead. caller: yes. good morning, c-span. this filibuster thing, this is the perfect way for our government to work the way our government was set up to work with checks and balances. with the filibuster rule, -- i'm getting an awful lot of feedback. host: go ahead. calle